Family Planning

ARTICLES ABOUT FAMILY PLANNING BY DATE - PAGE 4

To the Editor: President George W. Bush declared a war on women worldwide with his first executive order reinstating the "gag rule" on international family planning groups that receive U.S. federal aid. This is to prevent them from using separate, private monies for abortion services and even counseling. Tens of thousands of women in developing nations will die each year as a result of Bush's decision. Abortion counseling and services are greatly needed throughout the world. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

By DAVID S. BRODER, (A free-lance story for The Morning Call) | August 2, 2000

The Republican Party has this hang-up about sex. Every time it tries to act like a modern, 21st-century institution it stumbles over its Victorian morality and ends up looking absurd. It wants, of course, to ban abortions -- absolutely in its platform, and with exceptions only for rape, incest and the life of the mother in the view of its standard-bearer, Texas Gov. George W. Bush. Bush would continue the current don't ask, don't tell policy for gays in the military; the platform would bar them from the armed services.

In 1997, U.S. Rep. Jim Greenwood, R-Bucks, went to Bolivia to learn about the importance of family planning to women in developing countries. He learned that years before, when contraception and abortion were illegal, a government funded survey of Bolivian hospitals "found out something astonishing, like 50 percent of the beds were filled with women with botched abortions," Greenwood told me. Abortion is still very restricted in Bolivia, but...

Maybe it's just coincidence that Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush and his vanquished opponent Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., are meeting today in Pittsburgh. The Texas governor is campaigning there and asked the Arizona senator to join him to discuss their differences and make a "strong statement" in support of a Bush presidency. Could they also be discussing a vice presidential candidate? Sen. McCain insists it won't be him. But geography can be significant. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge is rumored to be high on the list of possible runningmates that Gov. Bush is considering.

by MARTI KING-PRINGLE (A free-lance story for The Morning Call) | October 12, 1999

Will the six billionth person really be born today, Oct. 12? We don't know for sure, but we do know it will happen right about now, only 12 years after the world's population reached five billion. We know that world population is increasing by about 78 million each year. And we know that the current cadre of one billion young people ages 15-24 is the largest generation ever. The choices these young people make about their sexuality and childbearing, dependent upon the resources available to them, will likely determine the future of the planet.

By Patricia T. Bradt (A free-lance story for The Morning Call) | October 12, 1999

Today, or very close to today, the world's population will exceed six billion humans -- double the number of humans in 1960 and triple the humans in 1930. Scientists have grave concerns about our planet's ability to sustain so many humans without irreparable damage to earth's ecosystems. Water, land, food and oxygen support not only us humans, but also the myriad of other critters with whom we share this fragile sphere. As humans increase, available water, soil, land and clean air decrease.

To the Editor: Listen to former President Dwight Eisenhower: "once,as president, I thought and said that birth control was not the business of our federal government. The facts have changed my mind ... Government must act, and private citizens must cooperate urgently through voluntary means to secure this right." Listen to George Bush as a Congressman: "We need to make population and family planning household words. We need to take the sensationalism out of this topic so that it can no longer be used by militants who have no real knowledge of the voluntary nature of the program but rather are using it as a political stepping stone.

The U.S. House did the right thing Tuesday, retaining $25 million for the United Nations Population Fund within a bill providing money to better secure U.S. diplomatic posts. The bill quadruples Clinton Administration requests for the rebuilding or remodeling of embassies, offering $1.4 billion to start a 10-year, $14 billion program. The 221-198 vote was taken as the Aug. 7 anniversary of terrorist bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania approaches. House Appropriations Committee approval is still needed to include the money approved Tuesday in the year-end congressional budget.

To the Editor: Congress and lately, even the President have turned a blind eye to the health care crisis in this nation. The number of uninsured has grown to 46 million. Many others are only partially insured. In Canada, the per capita administrative costs are $248 and in the United States, $995. This means that $747 per person annually is wasted due to inefficiency or to provide profit to executives and stockholders of health insurance companies. The Labor Party's program, "Just Health Care" calls for: Universal entitlement; freedom to choose doctors and health professionals.

Financially troubled Cherrydale Farms was rescued from bankruptcy this week by the Cherry family, which founded the fund-raising products company more than 90 years ago. Part of the deal calls for selling the company's Pennsburg candy-making plant to Hershey Foods Corp. Cherrydale original candy recipes will be manufactured in Altoona, Blair County, at Consolidated Brands, maker of Boyer's and Barton's candies. Meanwhile, Cherrydale officials are looking in the Pennsburg area for about 100,000 square feet of space for a new headquarters and distribution facility, said Cherrydale's new Co-President Ross Cherry.